Improvement in electric batteries



Y p. W

waited tate THEOPHILE OHUTAUX, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

Letters Patent N o. 105,043, dated July 5, 187 0.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRIC BATTERIES.

. The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part ofthe name.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IHoPHlLn OHUTAUX, of Paris, in the Empire of France,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Batteries; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to makeand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawingforming part of this specification, in which drawing- Figure 1 is asectional view of this improved battex-y, the cells being placed .oneabove the other.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of another battery applied horizontally, arow of cells being represented above another row of the same number.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts.

My invention relates to certain improvements iu electric batteries,which present the advantages of rendering them almost everlasting,avoiding the necessity ot cleansing them or renewing the elements,

maintaining their force, preventing chemical collections andagglomerations, and saving the expense ofv keeping in order andrenewing.`

rl`hese improvements consist, in the h'rst place, in arranging the cellsone above the other ou shelves fixed to a wall or an upright, and inplacing the elements'of each cell in a vessel having a hole in itsbottom, through which the exciting fluid runs from one cell to theother, being originally placed in a reservoir above the first cell, andfrom there-passing through a porous cylinder, and dropping through thepores of the same into the first cell.

The second part of said improvements is, that the cells consist- First,each of those of the upper half of the number of a piece of iron, and ofthe otherl half of a piece of zinc, which pieces of metal are of avolume proportionate to the dura-tion desired.

Second, of a piece of coke, covered with a layer of copper by theelectro-metallurgic process, or with an ordinary cap on its` upper end,-to which layer or cap is soldered the screw connecting two cellstogether.

Third, of fine sand surrounding the zinc or iron in the vessel, and ofpowdered coke surrounding the solid piece of coke in the same. y

Fourth, of a half oblate sphere reversed and placed at the bottom of thesaid vessel, upon which are the elements and under which collects theexciting fluid, which drops, as described, through the holes from onecell to another, after passing through the sand and powdered coke. y

The exciting fluid employed is azotic or nitricA acid diluted in water.But in certain cases, iron or zinc may be used exclusively for all thecells; and, when iron is used exclusively, the azotic acid is preferred,

but if, on the other hand, zinc is used exclusively, the bichromate ofpotash, the bisulphate of mercury, and sulphuric acid, combined anddiluted in water, are preferred.

In the drawing- A represents the piece of iron, proportionate in size tothe time the battery is desired to last, placed in the upper cells.

B, the piece of zinc for the lower ones.

C, the block of coke in each cell, whose end, as represented, is fittedwith a cap of copper, as has been explained, to which is soldered thescrew I), connecting the opposite poles of the battery.

E is the vessel or cell containing the, elements, the sand and thepowdered coke, through which passes the exciting fluid.

F is the reversed half oblate sphere, made of porco lain, glass, orearthcnware, at the bottom of each vessel.

VGr, the receptacle above the uppermost cell, containing the excitingiiuid in reserve.

H, the porous cylinder, connected to the neck ol' said reservoir,through which the liquid escapes by its pores.

I is the other receptacle, into which the impoverished and spent liquidflows after traversing all the cells, and which is placed underneath thelowest cell.

J is the pipe oraperture at the bottom of each vessel, underneath thehalf oblate sphere F, by means of which the fluid flows fromione cellinto another.

The exciting fluid issuing from the receptacle G filters through thcporous cylinder H, spreads throughout the first cell, damping the sandand pounded coke, and,ina1ly, collecting under the half sphere F, passesthrough thel aperture J into the next cell, where kit produces a similareffect, and successively passes into all the cells.

In order to arrange the elements, and to separate them so as to preventthem mixing the sand and the coke together, the following system must befollowed:

A movable partition divides the vessel into two parts, and the sand andcoke are then v introduced; when the iron or zinc and the solid block ofcokev are respectively completely surrounded by the sand and the poundedcoke, the partition is withdrawn and the sand and the pounded coke leftin colxtactwith one anothcrs vertical surfaces, without mixing together.

If the azotio o1' nitric acid diluted with water is used for theexciting liquid, after having been in con tact with the sides oftheelcmcnts in thc upper half of the cells containing the iron, becomes,from the silnple fact of this contact, nitrate of iron, which, Aby itscontact with the zinc in the lower cells, suicesof itself to produce theelectric action.

As has been stated, the metal subject to the action may be made to lastas long as desired by calculating its volume proportionately.

It is obvious that the economy of time and of the exciting fluidemployed, resnltngfrom this arrangement, is immense.

'lhc arrangement represented in g. 2 consists in simply placing thecells containing the iron above and those containing the zinc below. Theconstruction and action of this battery in other respects perfectlyresembles the one just described. The impoverished and spent liquid runsoft through the pipes or ape rturcs under the half spheres into anysuitable long trough placed underneath the lower row of cells.

My battery may be 4particularly well adapted for marine use, or formilitary telegraph work, the shaking to which a battery is alwayssubject in these cases producing but little effect on my battery, inconsequence ofthe cohesion produced by the damp sand and pounded cokefilling up the empty spaces.

Havingthus described the nature of the said invention, and the manner ofperforming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confinemyself to the precise details herein described and shoivn, as these mayobviously be modified Without departing from the principle of myinvention; but l What I cla-im as new, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

l. The arrangement of the cells one above the other on a horizontal orvertical frame, as described and set forth.

2. The combination of' zinc and iron in electric hat teries, the iron inthe upper half of thc cells, and the zinc inthe lower halfoi' the same,as described and set forth. y

T. CHUTAUX.

Witnesses H. BONNEVILLN. H. Moncton'.

